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Hey y’all! So here I am again sitting down to write my review over last nights show. This time I drove back to Fayetteville to Georges to see the great Robert Earl Keen. This was my first ever R.E.K. show. Yes I had heard of him and his music but never been to a show. Now I’ll be the first to admit I had just recently sat down to listen to some R.E.K. songs and after the first two YouTube videos, I was intrigued… How in the hell had I not heard his music before?! And I probably had when I was younger but I seriously doubt it. I was telling my mom how excited I was to go see Robert and she looked at me with a weird look and said “Who?!”

So I went creeping and trying to find out as much as I could about him, and of course some things stood out to me and reassured me the show was gonna kick ass. Like back in the late 80’s early 90’s he had a reputation as being pretty friggin entertaining in the roadhouse scene that he was asked to record 6 live albums. I must’ve hit red dirt gold!!! Once again, I thought to myself, how in the hell did I not hear his music before?! One thing that catches my attention when it comes to artists is how they are with others including their band and fans. Here’s a tiddybit for you, Robert Earl Keen has had the same band for nearly 2 decades! (Your mouth hit the floor too, right?) So based upon all my information I read about him and the videos, songs and interviews I was more than ready to see this legend live(:

I’m telling you the drive to Fayetteville seems shorter now that I’ve been buzzing back and forth for shows. If you wanna get a gander at their upcoming shows go on over to www.georgesmajesticlounge.com, their list of red dirt artists is looking pretty dang good for this fall! I arrived at 8:30 parked, got out and headed into the lounge. The opening act, Andrea Dansin, a 27 year old from Kentucky took the stage at 9:00 with her acoustic guitar and proceeded to wow me. Her voice was a cross between Patsy Cline and Jewel, and even though the crowd was unfamiliar with her and her music, they gave her positive feedback. She interacted with the growing crowd well, I didn’t see why not, she was very confident, quick witted and spunky. If I had 3 thumbs, I’d gave her all three(: She played for 45 minutes and following her performance she did a meet and greet by the merch tables out front. Nicest most humble artist I’ve ever met. Go YouTube her!

The crowd was a mixture of ages. When I first arrived, I was one of five fans there in my age bracket, you should’ve seen the looks I got… Folks were acting like they’d never seen a 28 year old girl at a Robert Earl Keen show. Boy, were those fans surprised because by 9:30 the area in front of the stage was covered with fans around my age. When Robert and his band took the stage at 10:00 everyone went crazy. The first couple of songs he sang, the melody, had a Caribbean feel to them. You know the songs that make you wanna slap on a coconut bra, grass skirt and lei then sway your hips to the music? (Just me huh? Well alrighty. Continue on…) Every song he sang, it didn’t matter what song, the fans raised their beer and sang along, and you couldn’t help but tap your foot or bob your head. His music is that good. Any of his songs go with anything ranging from a backyard cookout, backroading or driving with the windows down on a sunny day. Oh and his voice… When he sings it almost sounds like he’s smiling while singing and then you catch yourself smiling along too.

He played til 11:45 then him and the band exited the stage. The crowd started chanting “Robert Earl Keen!” over and over. It didn’t take long for him to come back out and sing us two more songs. My first Robert Earl Keen show and I left feeling like I had lived a little. Until I got to my car… A parking boot and note was left on my car! Of course, I’m thinking “What the hell did I do wrong?!” I have parked in the same parking lot every freaking time I come to Georges and now this?! I called the number left on the note which was attached to my window and the lady said help would be there in ten minutes. (Thank the Lord!)

This guy shows up looking as unamused as me and I asked “Why is there a damn boot on my car? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

He replied “Well ma’am, you parked without paying.” Obviously, there was a mistake, I didn’t see no parking meter.

“I always park here and I’ve never paid or got a boot on my tire.” I said, thinking maybe he’d believe me and let me off the hook.

“Ma’am, it’s right over there.” He pointed to a light pole 200 feet away. The light was burned out and the word ‘Meter’ was barely visible. Now granted I didn’t have my glasses on but that is beside the point! I was still clinging to the hope he would feel bad for me and help an out of stater out… No such luck, $105.00 later he took the boot off and told me to have a good night. (Cute touch man, cute.) After I got on the road and headed back to Oklahoma still upset over my $105.00 loss my gas light came on (Yeah of all friggin nights for this to happen I was by myself) I exited off and pulled into a gas station, walked in to pre pay for my fuel and my card was declined, thanks to the excessive usage in the previous hours. Here I was an hour from home at 2 a.m. stranded. I sat there and had a mini breakdown and cried. After five minutes of boo-hooing I swallowed my pride and texted my friend Shawn and told him I needed help. Bless his heart, he drove 20 minutes to help me out! I’ll be forever grateful he showed up cause if I’d called my mama, I can almost guarantee she’d had her cigarette lit and cussing me the entire time she pumped my gas! Until we meet again… Bye y’all!